The Bloomberg Eurozone Retail Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), an indicator based on a mid-month survey of economic conditions in the euro area retail sector and providing data one month ahead of government issued figures, fell a record 6.4 points from 48.2 in March to a survey low of 41.8 in April. This signals the steepest monthly decline in sales since data were first collected in January 2004. Retailers blamed a combination of bad weather, the timing of Easter, poor consumer confidence, squeezed household budgets due to rising food and energy prices for the steep drop in sales at the start of the second quarter. In Italy, ongoing political uncertainty was an additional factor cited by retailers.